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June 8–11, 2026 | The General Theological Seminary

Monday, June 8

Praying by Heart

The Most Rev. Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York

2:00-5:00

Workshop Description
“The Lord’s Prayer is the pattern and outline of all prayer.” In this session, Archbishop Stephen invites us to rediscover the Lord’s Prayer not only as words we recite, but as a way of living. Spoken from the heart of God through the heart of Jesus to the heart of the world — and entrusted to us — the Lord’s Prayer forms both our devotion and our discipleship.

Drawing on the Church’s catechetical tradition (including the Venerable Bede’s insistence that the Creed and Lord’s Prayer be rooted deeply in the faithful), this workshop explores the Lord’s Prayer as a foundational practice of Christian formation and evangelism. How does it teach us to pray? How does it teach us to live? And how might we teach it afresh in our own communities?

Biography
Stephen Cottrell is the 98th Archbishop of York, a member of the House of Lords, and a widely respected preacher, teacher, and author. His books include Praying by Heart; The Lord’s Prayer for Everyone, The Lord’s Prayer: A Beginner’s Guide, P is for Pilgrim, and Striking Out. He is married to Rebecca, a potter; they have three sons, two grandchildren, and one dog.

Evening:
Evensong in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd
Reception on the Lawn

Tuesday, June 9

Reframing Ministry
with Youth

The Rev. Dr. Whitney Altopp ’02

10:00-5:00

Workshop Description
Programmatic youth ministry often depends on a critical mass of young people, a trained leader, and a substantial budget — conditions many congregations simply do not have. In this one-day workshop, Whitney Altopp invites us to rethink youth ministry from the ground up.

Drawing on her doctoral research in Contextual Leadership, she will guide participants in identifying their congregation’s real capacities and limits in order to develop ministry with youth that is adaptive, resilient, and integrated into the life of the whole church. In a culture where the loudest “Christian” messaging often emerges from religious nationalism, this session explores how local congregations can offer a compelling counternarrative — sharing the Good News of Christ with young people who deeply hunger for it.

Biography
The Rev. Dr. Whitney Altopp is the 32nd rector of St. Stephen’s, Ridgefield, CT. Ordained in 2003, she began her church ministry in youth work in 1994 and has served congregations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. A 2002 graduate of GTS, her master’s thesis was published as The Adolescent Beloved Disciple. She earned her DMin in Contextual Leadership from Palmer Seminary in 2023, focusing on her “Four Categories of Engagement” for effective youth ministry.

God’s Pride: Defiant Hope

A Pride Month Eucharist of Remembrance and Celebration

7:00 PM

Designed by the Seminary faculty and Artist-in-Residence Buck McDaniel, God’s Pride: Defiant Hope is both celebration and remembrance, marking the 10th anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub massacre.

Held during Alumni Week, this special Pride Month Eucharist honors the legacy of Pulse while celebrating the faith, resilience, and joy of LGBTQ+ Christians. Alumni, local partners, and theological institutions will gather for worship, music, and community in a spirit of remembrance, hope, and defiant love.

Wednesday, June 10

Meet the Faculty

10:00-12:00

An interactive morning session offering alumni the opportunity to reconnect with faculty, explore current scholarship, and engage in lively theological conversation.

Paddock Lectures 2026

A Theology of Prayer

The Rev. Dr. Katherine Sonderegger

3:30-5:00 PM

Lecture Description
Origen once wrote: “The discussion of prayer is so great a task that it requires the Father to reveal it, His Firstborn Word to teach it, and the Spirit to enable us to think and speak rightly of so great a subject.” Prayer is a resolutely Trinitarian act.

These lectures will explore the great themes of Christian prayer in light of the visible and invisible missions of the Divine Persons, and the transformation they effect in the creatures drawn to praise them. Attending to the doctrines of Revelation, Illumination, and Inspiration, we will consider prayer as participation in the life of the Triune God.

Biography
Katherine Sonderegger is Professor of Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary. She previously taught for fifteen years at Middlebury College and has served on the VTS faculty since 2002. A priest in the Diocese of Virginia, she is author of the multi-volume Systematic Theology (Fortress Press), including Doctrine of God (2015) and Doctrine of the Holy Trinity (2020). The third volume, on Christology and Pneumatology, is forthcoming.